1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote controller for electronic games and, in particular, to a programmable remote controller for DVD-based electronic games and associated methods.
2. Background Information
Games that are played electronically, such as those played on a game console or computer system, are typically made available to potential game players on media targeted to portable game consoles; on media playable by personal computers, such as CDROMs and other portable media; or by downloading game software from a network. To date, personal computer (“PC”) based games are typically individual games or games that are connected to other players (such as massive multi-player role based games) via one or more networks. Typically, the standard input devices used to control other aspects of the PC, such as a keyboard and mouse, are used to control the game. External input devices, such as joysticks, are sometimes integrated to enhance the gaming experience.
Multiplayer and portable game consoles, on the other hand, provide self contained environments, sometimes with wired controllers that allow one or more players to control a game displayed on a display screen attached to the console, such as a standard television (“TV”). A media containing the game and designed specifically to operate with the game console logic is loaded into the console, and the wired controller provides player input to control content display on the TV. Handheld game consoles are typically single player games that may display content and feedback on an integrated small LCD display. Examples, such as electronic versions of poker, puzzles, etc. abound. In general, these devices suffer in their ability to provide a rich, visual and auditory experience due to physical limitations of the game consoles.
To date, Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc (“DVD”) technology has been used largely to play movies and to present other types of video content, oftentimes accompanied by audio. DVD technology was developed as an improvement over the sequential technologies previously available with Video Cassette Recorder technology, by providing an ability to access video segments on an “addressable” basis instead of sequentially, from the beginning of the media. However, to provide an optimal environment for the narrow purpose of playing videos such as movies, DVD technology imposes many constraints on the format of DVD media used to store the content and on the processing and storage capacities of DVD players. The only functions that a DVD player is really meant to perform are to play videos (with or without audio), to present menus, which upon selection of an item, enable the video player to navigate to play a different video segment, and to support general playback control such as speed control, skip to next content segment, etc. A DVD medium that stores such content is hereinafter referred to as a “DVD” and the machine or system used to play/present the DVD content referred to as a “player” or a “DVD player.” Board games have been developed that integrate the use of a DVD player to incorporate content from a DVD much as a game participant would select a next card from a game-specific set of cards. Examples include games such as Trivial Pursuit® DVD Pop Culture Edition by Hasbro, which adds media questions selectable from a DVD in addition to traditional card selection.